Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a system and method for monitoring gastric fullness. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a system and method for monitoring gastric fullness using ultrasound scanning of an individuals' stomach.
Overeating may lead to an uncomfortable feeling of heaviness, nausea, vomiting and obesity. Generally, a feeling of fullness may be delayed, and so an individual may feel full only after they have overeaten. Thus, an individual may unintentionally consume a greater volume of food than the volume of the user's stomach. Various stimuli such as smell, sight and taste of food, as well as psychological drivers may also lead to an individual suppressing, ignoring or overriding a feeling of fullness, leading to overfilling of the stomach.
Overeating may be closely related to intake of an excessive volume of food with relation to stomach volume. The degree of stomach filling or fullness may be subjectively determined by individuals while they are consuming food, and such a subjective determination may include a time delay in which fullness is not subjectively experienced by the individual until after an excessive volume of food has already been consumed. The steep rise in obesity prevalence suggests that subjective determination of fullness may be insufficient to control overeating.
It may be desirable for individuals to objectively measure the degree of stomach filling in real time.